What To Do With Vintage Bed Linens-#3

Every year for Christmas we make a 12 hour drive to Minnesota to spend Christmas with Matt's family. A drive that just about kills me every time since I cannot even sit still long enough to watch a half hour TV show! And let me say that I completely despise having to pack up 7 people! We mind as well just move, it would be about the same amount of work! But oh how I love spending time with my family and it makes it all worth it!

Packing 7 of us in a mini van is tough enough without all the STUFF that we need for a 12 hour road trip! And of course the kids all want to bring their quilts and pillows and animals because they could not possibly sleep without them! But! Just hold up there a minute-5 bed quilts in our small van-I don't think so! So this year they were all asking for new quilts for Christmas. So I decided to make "travel quilts" that were large enough for a bed but would pack up teeny tiny for traveling. I simply did not put batting in them, reducing the BULK! I still quilted them(very simply since I had 6 of them to do-yes, my husband decided two weeks before Christmas that he would like one too!)

Coleman's quilt had to be Star Wars of course! After making oodles of star wars tote and messengers for the shop I had a lot of odd shaped small scraps that needed a purpose. I used varied size squares to put the top together and backed it with a solid red bed sheet. His quilt was probably the most time consuming because of the detailed cutting to get the scenes I needed. But how cool it turned out!!! Truly one of a kind!!
























Joslyn's was also made from vintage bed linens. She had asked for one big enough to cover her bed and she had a rainbow of colors she wanted. That was a fun one to do because it meant using random prints that I loved. I did a star pattern for hers. And it ended up turning out to be the biggest of them all-I got a bit carried away with all the prints I wanted to include!






















Bell's was also done with many of the same bold and bright flower child prints. I did it in a simple square design and the back was the part I really loved! I used a vintage bear print that came from bed sheets.




















These types of blankets or quilts are excellent for traveling but also great as playmats for little ones, picnic blankets, or lap blankets for cuddling up with a good book.

On each of the kids quilts I wrote a note and the date and printed it onto a fabric sheet and stitched it in the corner of their quilt. It gave me another oppratunity to share with them how much I love them and how precious they are to the Lord.